In a recent interview with GameInformer, Bethesda finally opened up and provided fans with some long-awaited Fallout 76 story details. Covering subjects including solo play, quests, and levelling up.
Which, for those who are more than a little apprehensive about Fallout’s first foray into the MMO genre, should allay some of those concerns.
Fallout 76 Story Details – Riding Solo
The most important thing to note that, as explained by Todd Howard and others previously, Fallout 76 can be played entirely solo.
Players will run into other human-controlled characters at some point, of course. Fallout 76 is always online. But, each individual has the option of simply ignoring their fellow survivors, if they so choose (any damage inflicted by another player who won’t take no for an answer remaining insignificant until a mutually agreed upon duel is initiated).
And besides, with a maximum of 24 other players on a map that’s four times larger than Fallout 4’s, these instances should be relatively few and far between.
Encounters with AI NPCs, such as robots, will be far more frequent, in other words. Many of whom serving as quest givers and vendors; a minority as bloodthirsty enemy’s hell bent on ridding post-apocalypse West Virginia of human survivors.
There won’t be traditional dialogue trees during these interactions, sadly. And, more importantly, there are certain in-game ‘Events’ that are geared towards groups of players.
However, Bethesda hopes other players will fill the void left by colourful cast of NPCs of Fallouts past and that the number of single-player quests will appease anyone who feels aggrieved by the occasional co-op-specific mission.
Bethesda has also found a way to incorporate V.A.T.S into the final game, which is pretty handy for people like me who generally can’t hit a barn door from two yards.
Fallout 76 Story Details – Quests
Immediately upon setting foot in the game’s expansive wasteland, players will be greeted with a message from their former overseer issuing them with a list of secret instructions which acts as a jumping off point for the rest of the game.
As Howard explained, these set of instructions take the player on a long, multi-stage quest spanning the entirety of Fallout 76’s vast map. With various optional side-quests and secondary objectives appearing along the way as the player interacts with NPCs, Holotapes, or simply comes within close proximity of a specific point of interest. Filling up their mission log with “a scary amount of content” like the Fallout’s of old.
You’ll wander near something, and be alerted of a quest, like ‘explore this mine.
In the past, we thought that was maybe a little gamey. But we want you to find it. We’re being very proactive with where this content is. You’ll have a lot to do very quickly.
Explained project lead Jeff Gardiner.
Now, the world of Fallout 76 can be rather harsh at times. Level requirements jumping drastically between one area and the next. So, rather than ignoring these myriad quests, players would be well advised to attempt as many as possible if they want to experience everything the game has to offer.
Particularly if one of their goals is to build the best base possible for their avatar. Or find those elusive nuke codes that, at the end of the story, allow them to obliterate someone else’s base in exchange for some high-level loot.
Fallout 76 Story Details – Levelling Up
Finally, in terms of the game’s progression system, players are able to increase one of their avatar’s S.P.E.C.I.A.L stats each time they level up. Selecting a corresponding perk at the same time, which, in Fallout 76, come in the form of ability cards.
These cards confer benefits like incremental HP boosts, many of which can be selected multiple times for additional bonuses. With new sets of ability cards becoming available as the player’s character increases in level. As Howard explained:
There are hundreds of cards. They all rank up, and there are gold versions of each. [Allowing us] to be very flexible moving forward.
We can release new perks with events we are doing, and also have themed perks.
And don’t worry; ability cards can only be obtained through levelling up. There are no microtransactions offering shortcuts to the wealthier section of the game’s player base.
Fallout 76 releases on PS4, Xbox One, and PC in a few weeks’ time on the 14th November. It’s worth noting that anyone who participated in the earlier beta will be able to carry their progress over to the full game.
Source GameInformer